Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!  Here’s wishing the best of holiday cheer to each and every one of you!  

If you’ve already got your presents bought and your tree set up, then you’re way ahead of me.  However, I do plan to buy a tree later on today and look forward to decorating it. 

I was talking to a friend a couple of days ago, and we were remembering some of the Christmas tree decorations we made as kids—things like stringing popcorn on a thread or making paper chains from colored strips of paper looped into a circle and pasted together into links.       

I also remember beading together long strings of dyed chinaberry seeds and wonder if anybody does that any more.  If you know what chinaberry seeds look like, you know they’re perfect for beading.  They’re smaller than a marble and have five ridges that make a star shape if you look at them from the end.  They also have a hole in the middle that makes them perfect for stringing. 

The seeds are in the middle, and after we kids gathered up a bunch of chinaberries, my mother would boil them in a pot to separate the seeds from the berries.  Then she would dye the seeds with food coloring, using two or three different colors.  After they dried, we strung them on long strings, which we then draped around the Christmas tree to create a festive effect. 

I tried to find a picture on the Internet of Christmas decorations made from chinaberries, but couldn’t.  I did, however, find this picture of necklaces made from dyed chinaberry seeds, so if you’ve never seen them before, this should give you an idea of what they’re like and how strings of them are a colorful addition to a Christmas tree.     

I suspect that homemade tree decorations, such as the ones I just mentioned, are not very common any more, having been replaced by premade commercial ones, but I could be wrong about that.   

In any case, the idea is to have a pretty tree to put the presents under, and even I should be able to manage that.   Once again, Merry Christmas!

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ROSCOE FFA HOLDS ANNUAL STOCK SHOW 

A good crowd was on hand Saturday at the School Barn to witness the 2011 Roscoe FFA Stock Show.  Both elementary and high school students showed off their animals to the judges and many came away winners with trophies, buckles, and ribbons donated by local benefactors.

The final results are as follows:

Goats

1.    Grand Champion – Stina Tomlin

2.    Reserve Champion – Chasity Diaz

       Showmanship Awards

1.    Junior (7th grade and under) – Lane Harrell

2.    Senior (8th – 12th grades) – Stina Tomlin

Swine

1.    Grand Champion – Alura Renteria

2.    Reserve Champion – Kamren Fisher

       Showmanship Awards

1.    Pee Wee – Dakota Freeman

2.    Junior – Kamren Fisher

3.    Senior – Stina Tomlin

Swine Breed Winners

      Duroc Champion – Lola Joiner

      Hampshire Champion – Kendall Moses

      White OPB Champion – Kamren Fisher

      Black OPB Champion – Keeston Ford

      Cross Champion – Alura Renteria    

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AIDEN RICHBURG SHOWS GRAND CHAMPION PIG AT WEST TEXAS REHAB IN ABILENE

Aiden Richburg exhibited the Grand Champion pig at the 20th annual West Texas Rehabilitation Center Jackpot Pig, Goat and Lamb Show on Saturday at the Abilene Wylie FFA barn. Pigs, goats and lambs were donated by breeders across the country and purchased in a sale in October that raised over $17,000 for the Rehab.

Aiden received a beautiful belt buckle as a prize and will also be getting a custom embroidered jacket.  For more information about the Rehab, click here.    

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PLOWGIRLS FALL TO CROSS PLAINS 54-26

The Lady Buffaloes of Cross Plains were too much for the Plowgirls last Friday night, beating them by a score of 54-26.  The halftime score was 34-17.  

High scorers for the Plowgirls were Lynnsi Moses with 7 points and Sara Kingston with 5.  Faith Boren and Mirian Solis both had 4. 

The Plowgirls’ next action will be in the Sterling City Tournament on Tuesday, December 27. 

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† J. L. CAMPBELL

Funeral services for J. L. Campbell, 81, were held yesterday at the Champion Baptist Church, followed by interment in the Champion Cemetery.  He passed away on Sunday, December 18, at the Nolan Nursing and Rehab Center in Sweetwater.

J. L. Campbell was born in Roscoe on October 21, 1930, and lived in the area all his life.  He went to Highland School and married Roberta C. Bankhead on June 11, 1949, in Roscoe.  A member of the Champion Baptist Church, he worked as a cotton ginner and a farmer, also for USG and for Nolan County Precinct 1 for twenty years.

Survivors include his wife, Roberta, of Champion; son Bob and wife of Snyder; daughter Patsy Sanford of Roscoe; three grandchildren, Shae Sanford and wife of Abilene, Kyle Sanford and wife of Bronte, and Courtney Campbell of Abilene; and three great-grandchildren.

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† MARTA MORENO ESPINOZA

Funeral services were held yesterday for Marta Moreno Espinoza, 85, at the McCoy Chapel of Memories and followed by interment in the Roscoe Cemetery.  She died at home on Sunday.

Marta Moreno was born January 19, 1926, in Normanna and married Domingo Espinoza in 1965 in Loraine.  She attended Roscoe Worship Center and had lived in Loraine and Roscoe since 1955.  Survivors include a sister, Elida Calderon, of Loraine; four nephews, three nieces, and fifteen great-nieces and nephews. 

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WEATHER REPORT

Early last Thursday morning there was a light rain, which didn’t amount to much but was enough to get everything wet.  Thursday and Friday were cool and cloudy, but on Saturday the sun came out and the weather was perfect for both the stock show and the Christmas parade.  

On Sunday, it was cool and cloudy again with more light rain, maybe a tenth of an inch, and then on Monday morning, it rained some more, about a quarter to three-tenths of an inch.  The sun came out in the afternoon and with it came strong winds.  Since then it has been sunny and breezy.   

The forecast is for continued cool weather with a chance of snow tomorrow night and Friday.  The sun should be back out for Christmas Eve and Christmas with highs in the forties and lows in the twenties.